NASCAR Inspection Issues At Atlanta

Elton Sawyer

Pete McCole/AR1

Several NASCAR teams missed out on a chance to take part in Cup qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday after failing to make it through technical inspection.

Sunday’s race is the first event of the season to utilize the new low downforce aero package, and teams have been experiencing issues all afternoon trying to get their cars to conform to the new specifications.

With just minutes before the start of qualifying, the cars of Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex, Jr., Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch and hometown favorite Chase Elliott were still being pushed through the inspection line.

NASCAR Vice President of Officiating and Technical Inspection Elton Sawyer said that clearing the templates is where the majority of the teams were having issues.

"The teams asked for this," said Sawyer in the rigorous inspection process. "In the offseason we worked with them, we told them what we were going to do, they've asked us to stay consistent and that's exactly what we've done. At 5:00 p.m. today we had every car through the inspection process one time so we feel good about that."

The cars of Michael McDowell, Cole Whitt, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Cody Ware and Derrike Cope were unable to make it through tech before the start of the opening round of qualifying and were not able to make an attempt. Only 39 cars are entered for Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 so all five drivers will make the field, but will be lined up by owners points.